Traingeek08's Creators Club Releases & Updates Thread

That livery on the BR182 isn't required for it to work, it's just the wagon that is required .

TG08 .

 

Hello all, I'm here to announce my next scenario from my Creators Club Roadmap, 2A21 MAT-NOT on Peak Forest .


Scenario Name: 2A21 MAT-NOT
Route: Peak Forest
Train: Class 170 ScR
Route covered: Matlock to Ambergate
Duration: 20mins
Difficulty: 1
Scenario Storyline: Drive 2-Alpha-21, the 10:10 East Midlands Railway service from Matlock to Nottingham as far as Ambergate, calling at all stations along the way on this wet, spring day.


Anyway, WIP shots await...





Here is our service awaiting departure from Matlock bound for Nottingham .





"Some might say, Oasis film-ed he-re!"





Leaving Cromford behind, we continue our journey towards the next station of...





...Whatstandwell, meaning there's one stop to go until the next driver takes over for the run towards Nottingham (via Derby) .


Scenario Link: Creators Club - (TG08) 2A21 MAT-NOT (170)
Required Livery Link: Creators Club - East Midlands Railway 170 by JasonPFC



I hope you are all looking forward to this release. I've been TG08 as usual, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

Hello all, I'm here to announce my next scenario from my Creators Club Roadmap, Freight: 101 on Main-Spessart Bahn .

THE FORMATION(S):

Formation Name: BR 101 + Freight (MSB)
Route: Expert DB BR 101 Loco Add-On/Main-Spessart Bahn
Train: DB BR 101 Expert





Formation Link: Creators Club - (TG08) BR 101 + Freight (MSB)


THE SCENARIO:

Scenario Name: Freight: 101
Route: Main-Spessart Bahn
Train: DB BR 101 Expert
Route covered: Aschaffenburg Gbf to Gemunden Gbf (full route)
Duration: 50mins
Difficulty: 3
Scenario Storyline: Drive this freight train from Aschaffenburg to Gemunden with a DB BR 101 as traction in place of the regular TRAXX locomotive. You will be following a delayed RE service bound for Bamberg, so watch the signals throughout the journey.


Anyway, WIP shots await...





Here is our freight train at Aschaffenburg Gbf, awaiting departure to Gemunden Gbf (via the Main-Spessart Bahn) .





A beautiful shot of our train after passing through Hosbach station .





We meet with an ICE T (DB BR 411) between Wiesthal and Partenstein. It does have its headlights on, even if it doesn't look like it...





A nice shot of us running alongside the river here having left Lohr Bahnhof behind on our way to Gemunden am Main.


Scenario Link: Creators Club - (TG08) Freight: 101 (Exp. BR 101)


I hope you are all looking forward to this release. I've been TG08 as usual, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

Hello all, I'm here to announce my 300th mod (and next scenario) from my Creators Club Roadmap, Down the TRAXX on Tharandter Rampe .


Scenario Name: Down the TRAXX
Route: Tharandter Rampe
Train: RP BR 185
Route covered: Dresden Hbf to Freiberg (Sachs) Gbf
Duration: 40mins
Difficulty: 2
Scenario Storyline: Drive this light freight train from Dresden to Freiberg (Sachs) whilst following an IC service out of Dresden up the Tharandter Rampe.


Anyway, WIP shots await...





Here is our service passing Dresden Altstadt Gbf having been held up by an IC service out of the Hauptbahnhof.





Now up the Rampe, we can pick up some speed to head towards our layover stop .





We seem to have caught up to that IC service again...





We've arrived at Freiberg (Sachs) Gbf to end the scenario (and the 300th mod that I've released on CC).


Scenario Link:
Required Livery Link: Creators Club - (TG08) HectorRail (BR 185) by TrainGeek08



I hope you are all looking forward to this release. I've been TG08 as usual, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

Year In Review (so far) - April to June 2025:

Hello all, TrainGeek08 here, and today I'm going to review how well I think my creations have done throughout the last few months. This is going to be a long one, and this post is a true representation of how I feel the mods I have released so far have done.

WARNING: I may sound harsh/critical at times, either to myself or to subscribers of my content. If this is the case, this is not against any of you individually, but instead as a general consensus. Think about it as me being harsh to myself for thinking you all would like particular scenarios or liveries. It is not designed to blame the subscribers of my content but myself as the creator. Thank you. (In other words, it's just me being open with you all for once .)

NOTE: All subscriber counts are as of the creation of this post, so they may have changed if you view this post in the future.
SECOND NOTE: Formations are not being included in the list (for obvious reasons).


LIVERIES:
APRIL:
TRI - 55 subscribers
Midland Mainline - 22 subscribers

MAY:
FCC - 27 subscribers
Strathclyde - 10 subscribers

JUNE:
Metronom - 10 subscribers

TrainGeek08: From what we see here, my liveries have done well within reason for the last few months...

Let's start in April. The TRI livery has done really well, probably as a continuation of the momentum I had throughout March with liveries doing better on CC. The Midland Mainline livery though... What happened? Why is it looking likely to be a repeat of February all over again? Any responsibility for lower subscriber counts will be mine, but after the TRI livery did fantastic, I thought that Midland Mainline would do as good, if not better...

May though, is seeing a continuation of this downward spiral in terms of subscriber counts on my liveries... the FCC one was okay, I could've done better, but it's okay. The Strathclyde one. 10 subscribers!?! What? I did do it unbranded, but I think the colours were pretty spot on to be fair. For comparison, my 101 in the same livery has received 64 subscribers (as of today). I mean, there's nothing stopping the livery getting more subscribers with time, but I thought this one would be at around 30 subscribers at least.

June. Don't get me started with June. The Metronom livery, even if it released last week, has the same amount of subscribers as the Strathclyde 314 I did weeks prior. I think I know why it has done so poorly though. When I did the weathering on the livery, I overdid it. So, instead of the cab ends being white as in reality, they are now in a grey-ish tone. That's a slap on the wrist for me there. Apologies everyone. Hopefully I can do better in July and into August for you all .


SCENARIOS: (Railfan scenarios will be covered separately)
APRIL:
Double Header - 36 subscribers
Overground Capital - 14 subscribers
Diesel Mover - 36 subscribers

MAY:
Depot Tour - 15 subscribers
The Mildmay Blues - 21 subscribers
Leaving Leven - 23 subscribers
Late Night Pendo - 14 subscribers

JUNE:
Delayed IC - 58 subscribers
2A21 MAT-NOT - 7 subscribers
Freight: 101 - N/A (not released yet)
Down the TRAXX - N/A (not released yet)

TrainGeek08: Now we are talking. Onto my forte...

April was a better month for scenarios. Judging how February and March went, I was super delighted when I had two of my better creations within April. I think what helped a bit, was that they were on two of TSW5's core routes, so most people would have access to at least one of them when they got TSW5. Was May okay?

Into May now then, once again, less subscribers... Ringing any bells anyone? February redux on the scenario side too it seems... It seems that May was one of my worst months for content across the board really (in the last few months anyway). I will take my side of the blame for not having them up to your standards, but again, what happened? It just wasn't there unfortunately.

How well has June been? I'm glad you asked, because I'm quite happy with how June is doing so far (on the scenario side anyway). Delayed IC! What a showing!?! I'm so happy that it has a higher subscriber count . Even if 2A21 MAT-NOT has 7 subscribers, I think June will be a good month for scenarios. Freight: 101 and Down the TRAXX both have moments of PZB action in them, so you may have to keep on your toes in those two scenarios... Don't let me down everyone .


RAILFAN SCENARIOS:
Now, for a little bit of backstory before I review subscriber counts.

I thought about the idea of doing Railfan scenarios, after seeing how well BlueSpec's examples were doing on Creators Club. So I thought, why not do it myself? That's how they came into being, it was going to be one scenario on the first day of each month, so it would kick off the month with some different content from the usual livery/scenario. When you look at these subscriber counts, you can imagine what I'm going to say...

APRIL:
Salzburg Hbf - 32 subscribers

MAY:
LA Union - 4 subscribers

JUNE:
Newark Penn - 5 subscribers

I think after I announced that I was discontinuing the Railfan scenarios, you all seem to have got the memo (uncoincidentally)... other than Salzburg Hbf (which was announced prior to the announcement), the results are what I expected. To be honest, after I announced the discontinuation of the RF scenarios, when I was creating them, even I was fed up of them. If the creator is saying this, then you all have done the right thing, and steered away from them (like I now have after Newark Penn's release). The concept started off really well, but it isn't what it lived up to be unfortunately. However, it does mean that I can make better scenarios and liveries for you all.


Anyway, thanks all for reading this rather different post today. I really appreciate it .

TrainGeek08.

 

Hello all, TrainGeek08 here and today I am going to review my best 5 (and worst 5) releases in 2025 so far and discuss why they are the best/worst in my opinion. Let's get into it shall we?

Before we start, I will say that these ratings are purely based on subscriber count on Creators Club (as of today) and not the best/worst releases based off of the talent showcased in each mod.

Best 5 releases in 2025:

1st - NJ Wien (BR 1116)

Released: Thursday 16th January 2025
Subscribers: 265



Nice to see a scenario in top spot after last year was very livery-orientated! I love making scenarios on S-Bahn Vorarlberg, just because I know that you all like them too, which I would put down to the amount of effort I put in for trying to make the AI services run as accurately to real-life as possible. S-Bahn Vorarlberg is one of my favourite routes to make scenarios for because there is so much service and destination variety, that it is destined to be busy throughout any scenario you create.

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) NJ Wien (BR 1116)


2nd - GBRf '66301' (66)

Released: Sunday 12th January 2025
Subscribers: 117



Following in the footsteps of 66789 is 66301. My best livery of the year (at the moment, 3rd place is closing in at a fast rate of knots), but I love how I got the colours so accurate as well. I learnt about making sure that the colours were correct after making 66789, and transferred it across to 301. It's my only GBRf livery this year so far, but there is one due to release in August (check HERE for more information)...

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) GBRf '66301' (66)


3rd - BWEGT (BR 612)

Released: Sunday 9th March 2025
Subscribers: 113



Now onto 66301's rival for best livery of the year... I spent a lot of time on this one to make sure the BWEGT logo was correct, and I wanted to make it as detailed as I could. Well, it seems to have worked! I'm happy that my best European livery isn't a locomotive this year, mind that of a Vectron . It does look not only smart, but the part too!

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) BWEGT (BR 612)

4th - Old MBTA (F40PH-3C)

Released: Friday 14th March 2025
Subscribers: 92



From my best European livery to my best American livery this year. What a livery! I think I know what's done it though. See the weathering under the cab window? That is a new weathering technique I tried out for this livery. I haven't used it ever since, but I can see why you all love this livery, and probably want me to do something similar again in the future (with that technique) .

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Old MBTA (F40PH-3C)

5th - ES9411 Koln (Duplex)

Released: Tuesday 21st January 2025
Subscribers: 83



Now, onto my second-best scenario this year! I didn't know you all love a stormy run in a TGV Duplex along a Schnellfahrstrecke? Jokes aside, this scenario captures everything about what SKA is all about. High-speed services from Eurostar (ex-Thalys) and DB Fernverkehr, regional services from DB Regio, S-Bahn services from S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr and also some freight services going to/from Belgium or further afield (Netherlands/France?).

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) ES9411 Köln (Duplex)


Now onto the other end of the scale. For this one I will exclude recently released mods as it is not fair on those because they have came out fairly recently so people may still be giving them a go .

Worst 5 releases in 2025:

5th - Farewell Budd-y P4 (M3)

Released: Thursday 20th March 2025
Subscribers: 10



You will see a common theme with my worst releases this year (so far)... they are all from the same scenario pack. Even though it is the best performing scenario of the pack, I'm going to suggest that it is the scenario length that is the problem. I try and make scenarios between 30 and 60 minutes in length. This scenario was 65 minutes in length, and it probably didn't have enough AI to cover that time period. That's on me as the creator, so apologies everyone for that.

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Farewell Budd-y P4 (M3)

4th - Farewell Budd-y P5 (M3)

Released: Thursday 20th March 2025
Subscribers: 8



This scenario is definitely about the length again, but there's a story behind this one. So, there was supposed to be six scenarios in this pack, not five. Where did that sixth scenario go? Well, when I made the sixth scenario, it didn't save properly, so it deleted itself. The scenario had around 40 AI services in it, so I didn't want to risk the problem happening again. So, I combined the journeys from Scenarios 5 and 6 into just one scenario. Upon reflection, this was (definitely) the wrong direction to head in, as there was not enough AI to cover a scenario length twice as long as it should've been. What was a 40 minute scenario became a 90 minute scenario, just because one scenario didn't save. Moral of the story? Make sure any livery or scenario you do saves properly before you test it. I learnt that the hard way on this occasion...

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Farewell Budd-y P5 (M3)

3rd - Farewell Budd-y P1 (M3)

Released: Thursday 20th March 2025
Subscribers: 6



This one is probably due to the lack of difficulty within the scenario. You don't encounter any red signals (that you have to slow down/stop for) until you pass Floral Park heading to Hicksville, or if there are any before that, they don't have as much of an effect on your service. If it was a bit harder, then I might be reaping in the rewards a bit.

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Farewell Budd-y P1 (M3)


2nd - Farewell Budd-y P3 (M3)

Released: Thursday 20th March 2025
Subscribers: 5



Scenario 3 is about the amount of AI featured. My counter-argument to that is; it's off-peak. Of course it isn't going to be as busy as Scenario 1 is for example. The Long Beach branch has 1tph off-peak, compared to 2tph in the peak (IIRC). I even used a realistic LIRR service schedule for each branch to try and get the AI frequency as accurately as possible for all five (supposed to be six) scenarios.

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Farewell Budd-y P3 (M3)


1st - Farewell Budd-y P2 (M3)

Released: Thursday 20th March 2025
Subscribers: 4



I am quite shocked to see Farewell Budd-y P2 as my worst scenario in 2025 so far being three months since release. I have a strong feeling this is down to two factors; the lack of difficulty discussed for Scenario 1, and also the lack of AI discussed for Scenario 3. These two factors congregate into one, making a fairly boring scenario, hence the lower subscriber count .

Also, I remember that I had to rush the CC release of this scenario pack, so had the release process been smoother, I think it would've done a bit better. This is something I have rectified prior to the release of the WCML South SP at the end of July (by releasing one scenario per day, instead of all six scenarios at once).

Creators Club: Creators Club - (TG08) Farewell Budd-y P2 (M3)


Overall Round-Up and Conclusion:
So, a scenario pack in the bottom 5 and three liveries + two scenarios in the top 5, very strange but also really interesting at the same time. I do need to improve on how I go around doing scenario packs in future, to make sure that I have enough time to release them in a proper manner.

I hope you enjoyed this one, let me know if I should do one later in the year to see if anything changes .

I've been TG08 as always, enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you in mid-July after I return from my holiday. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

Hello all, now that I have returned from my two-week break, I'm here to announce my next livery from the Creators Club Roadmap, EWS on the Class 08 from Northern Trans-Pennine .


Livery Name: EWS
Route: Northern Trans-Pennine (Heavy Freight Pack)
Train: Class 08 BLU
Route covered: N/A
Duration (to make the livery): 30mins
Difficulty: N/A
Scenario Storyline: N/A


WIP shots await...





Here it is, the EWS livery on the Gronk. Yep, there's weathering on this one...





Here's the side view of the livery. Pretty well done don't you think?





Here's a look at the rear as well... the weathering is more evident here . I didn't overdo it this time ...


And here it is towing around my other EWS liveried loco, a Class 37:







Livery Link: Creators Club - (TG08) EWS (08)


Anyway, I hope you are looking forward to this livery releasing, I'm TrainGeek08 as always, enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you for the next announcement, until then, it's goodbye .

 

Good morning all, me again... Something rather special happened during my two-week break that needs announcing...

2 years ago, I released a Northern livery for the MML Class 158. It has been slowly trickling in subscribers, and has even been used in other creators' work before (especially recently, but I'll get onto that shortly).

Now... 2 years later, it has come to the point where I can announce for the first time ever:

NORTHERN TRAINS (158) HAS REACHED 1000 SUBSCRIBERS!!!

I mean, getting 1000 subscribers on 66523 Weathered was unexpected. However, due to the reason I'll get onto in a second, this livery has joined it in my so-called "1K Club", so thank you to those who follow my projects and download them ingame for your viewing pleasure. The reason why this livery has reached 1000 subscribers before the likes of 66789? Well, a massive shoutout and thank you goes to Al#6806 (or South West Scenarios for their TSC content) for including this livery in their vast (and growing) collection of West Coast Main Line: Preston-Carlisle scenarios (all set in the modern era). So thank you for making my dream come true . What livery shall be next to get to this feat? GBRf '66789'? MRCE Vectron? FLIXTRAIN Vectron? Get subscribing folks to find out .




Three cheers for this simple, yet effective livery... hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, hip hip... hooray!



Thank you all,
TrainGeek08, a happy content creator in the world of TSW.

 

Hello all, I'm here to announce my next scenario from my Creators Club Roadmap, 1M63 HFD-BHM on Birmingham Cross-City .

*Scenario was made prior to the announcement of Rivet Games' WMR & XC Class 170 Pack, so the scenario will feature CC liveries instead of the upcoming licensed examples.*


Scenario Name: 1M63 HFD-BHM
Route: Birmingham Cross-City
Train: Class 170 ScR
Route covered: Bromsgrove to Birmingham New Street
Duration: 25-30mins
Difficulty: 2
Scenario Storyline: Drive 1-Mike-63 from Bromsgrove to Birmingham New Street having come from Hereford. Your only stop between Bromsgrove and New Street today is University. You might catch up to a service heading to Four Oaks and may have to follow it to New Street.


Anyway, WIP shots await...





Here is our service awaiting departure from Bromsgrove. It has started raining at this point .





Well... we're going a bit slower than usual, due to being held up behind a stopping service from Redditch to Four Oaks.





Nice crossover of WMR diesel and electric traction here .





We've made it to University at least... will we make it to New Street? (You do, just in case you are wondering...)


Scenario Link:

Required Livery Link: Creators Club - West Midlands Class 170 by Wills
Required Livery 2 Link: Creators Club - CrossCountry Class 170 Weathered by Spike



I hope you are all looking forward to this release. I've been TG08 as usual, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

When the XC/WMR 170 pack comes out, do you plan on keeping the 170’s in this scenario, will you replace the 170 models, or mix and match? I’m really curious

 

We'll see. It would be more realistic to have the 170s from the official pack in, but the scenario will release with CC liveries (on the 170s) in the meantime. If I remember (and if I do get the pack), then I'll swap them out .

 

Hello all, I'm here to announce my next livery from my Creators Club Roadmap, Air Europa on the BR 423 from Hauptstrecke Munchen-Augsburg .

Well... that's what I should've been announcing.

So, it turns out that either a) the Air Europa livery exists, but reference material is tricky to access, or b) it doesn't exist at all. This cannot run in TG08 HQ, but luckily, one of my side projects has been drafted in to save the day!


Let's try that intro again...


Hello all, I'm here to announce my next scenario from my Creators Club Roadmap, 1B67 CLE-MIA on (the recently-released) Manchester Airport Commuter .


Scenario Name: 1B67 CLE-MIA
Route: Manchester Airport Commuter
Train: Class 170 ScR
Route covered: Stockport to Manchester Airport (via Manchester Piccadilly)
Duration: 35mins
Difficulty: 2
Scenario Storyline: Take over 1-Bravo-67 at Stockport to continue its journey to Manchester Airport (via Manchester Piccadilly). You will be following trains in and out of Piccadilly today, as the morning peak comes to a close. As long as you don't SPAD, you shall make it through with zero issues!


Anyway, WIP shots await...





Here is our service awaiting departure from Stockport whilst a CrossCountry service boards passengers before it departs for Piccadilly.





Now arriving into Piccadilly's station throat, but first; we pass a Class 390 'Pendolino' bound for London Euston (via Stoke-on-Trent) near Longsight, whilst an Airbus A350 is spotted in the distance getting ready to land at its final destination of Manchester Airport. Nice sunrise too!





We have arrived at Manchester Piccadilly, and have 5 minutes here. Within those 5 minutes of sitting on Platform 9, we have been joined by a pair of Arriva Trains Wales Class 158 DMUs terminating on P10 with a service from the Welsh capital (Cardiff).





My favourite one of the lot! As we pass Longsight again on our way to the Airport (having reversed in Piccadilly), we pass a pair of Class 350 'Desiro' EMUs on a service from the Airport up to Glasgow Central (via the WCML). Note the XC HST in the background (looking rather ominous) whilst working its service from Manchester to Bristol Temple Meads (via Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street and Cheltenham Spa).


Scenario Link:

REQUIRED LIVERIES:

CLASS 142:
Creators Club - Northern Rail Class 142 (Very Detailed} by Tomhill

CLASS 150:
Creators Club - Old Northern Class 150/2 by CossieJosh

CLASS 158:
Creators Club - Class 158 Arriva Revised by hello

CLASS 170:
Creators Club - Class 170 First TransPennine Express by ZammyTrainz

CLASS 323:
Creators Club - Northern Rail 323 MGP by Julieg

CLASS 350:
Creators Club - First TransPennine Express Class 350 by RMack

CLASS 390:
Creators Club - Virgin Pendolino 390012 Class 390 by Spike
Creators Club - Class 390 Virgin Pendolino by LaZeRJET

HIGH SPEED TRAIN (CLASS 43):
Creators Club - CrossCountry 43285 Weathered Class 43 HST by Spike
Creators Club - CrossCountry 43378 Weathered Class 43 HST by Spike


I hope you are all looking forward to this release. I've been TG08 as usual, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .

 

I'm very interested to see this . It looks very well presented. I've always struggled with scenarios so I like how this is of a similar quality to a working TT.

 

Funny you should say that Josh. I used the December 2014 WTT to create this scenario .

 

Really? Well I look forward to it all the same. I haven't got Manchester Commuter yet, but I'll certainly put it in my wish list now

 

Developer's Insight: 1B67 CLE-MIA (170)

Hello everyone, TrainGeek08 here, and I have something rather different for you tonight. I want to share an insight into how I use Network Rail's published Working Timetables to create accurate scenarios i.e. 1B67 CLE-MIA on Manchester Airport Commuter above.


I have got some annotated screenshots of the Dec 2014 WTT (which contains the route between Alderley Edge and Manchester Piccadilly (via both branches, and in both directions)). I'll be explaining quite a bit, in the hope that it gives you all some helpful advice on how to effectively use WTT's when creating a realistic scenario. And yes, this will be split over two posts due to the length in which I will be explaining things.

Without further ado, let's get into it:

• As you can see, service 1B67 is highlighted in red as this is the player service. You may be wondering why I chose this service in the first place? So, in the screenshot above, see the service highlighted in green (2N22)? It leaves Heaton Chapel at 08:50, which is a couple of minutes before we leave Stockport. The goal is to create a scenario where it captures the busyness of the morning peak drawing to a close. Which brings me onto my next point; routing (or pathing if you prefer).
• So, highlighted in dark blue is the term "SL" at Slade Lane Junction. This means that both 2N22 and 1B67 are due to stay on the Slow Line between Slade Lane Jn and Ardwick Jn. This is something to bear in mind when putting paths down in the Scenario Planner. Luckily on MAC, the paths state whether they go "via Fast" or "via Slow". In this case, you would select the path "via Slow", as both services are on the Slow Line. Same applies at Ardwick Jn (underlined in light blue), but we have now an "EL" and a "FL". EL stands for East Line and FL stands for Fast Line. The path should already route you via these lines within Piccadilly's station throat anyway, so don't worry too much on those.
• Headcodes then; these are only important for identifying which train a service is. An example of this is 2S17. You would use these when you are naming your services within SP before you create your service. If you want scenarios to be accurate, you have to make sure that the headcode is as per the WTT, and also the timings are as close as possible (TSW has 5 minute intervals, this does need changed to 1 minute intervals at least...).
• One final thing on this screenshot; always look at what each diagram is rostered to be worked by (highlighted in orange). If that train is in TSW, then spawn the service using that train e.g. 2N22 could be worked by a 150 because we have the 150 within TSW. The same cannot be said for 1H17, as we do not have a Voyager in the game (for now), so you would have to improvise. CrossCountry ran HSTs, there's a HST in TSW, so why not use that as a substitute?

• Again, headcodes are important here. See above for more detail.
• Platform numbers; now this is an important part of making a scenario 100% accurate, especially if you have a WTT to hand like we have. The numbers highlighted in dark blue (and yellow in the previous screenshot) are the platform from which that service will leave from. Within MAC, every platform at Manchester Piccadilly is available, which is a bonus! Look for the platform number you're after e.g. 2H94 departs from Platform 9 bound for Buxton.
• Train ordering then; the easiest way to do this is by looking at the WTT from left to right. I have started with 2S16 to Sheffield (underlined in red), and followed the WTT to the right until I reach 1A16 to London Euston (underlined in dark blue) which is when it moves onto the next page. Keep adding in services until your player service arrives into that terminus.
• Top tip: Start placing AI down at a terminus on the route e.g. Manchester Piccadilly on MAC or London Euston on WCMLS, because it would give you a gauge of how much AI goes through that terminus during the duration of the scenario. Let's take 1B67 as an example: as a minimum, I need to have AI at Piccadilly from at least 08:50 to 09:07 if the player is to see it.

• Top tip: Do not focus on trains that leave the station that you are departing from after you've left yourself. This is because: a) the player would (most likely) not see it in action, or b) that service would not have an impact on the running of the player service. An example is 2H72 (highlighted in dark pink), which leaves Piccadilly 11 minutes after 1B67 (player service, highlighted in red) leaves Piccadilly on its run towards the Airport. Hence why I've crossed those services out...
• However, there is a catch to doing the above technique. That only applies to trains which arrive and depart within the scenario duration (after 08:50). Any trains which arrived into Piccadilly before/at 08:50, are exempted from the above rule, and would be added in normally e.g. 1A17 to London Euston (which arrived into Piccadilly at 08:48), which departs at 09:15. Also, you may notice that some trains use Piccadilly to reverse. Again, these trains are exempted from the rule, because those services would likely start after the scenario duration at a different station i.e. 1B70 at Manchester Airport (dep. 08:55).

• You'll notice that some trains cross over Ardwick Jn at 08:50, but this is when the scenario starts? So, my advice on this concept is to start at the last station the train passed through e.g. Mauldeth Road (for services from Styal/Airport) or Levenshulme (for services via Stockport). It might be unrealistic, but unfortunately, you cannot spawn trains over junctions or at signals like you can in Train Simulator Classic for example (without the PC Editor anyway). This approach would be shared with trains going over Slade Lane Jn as well.
• The three services at Piccadilly highlighted in red would be spawned in the station platforms as they are within their turnaround time for their reversals (or in the case of 1D33 to Holyhead, it originates on P14, which is one of the through platforms).
• Onto an interesting conundrum; 2H11 terminates in P8 at 08:55, but when the scenario starts at 08:50, it is nearing Ardwick Jn (roughly passing Longsight Car. M.D.). Again, we cannot spawn trains on the move at speed, so we have to just spawn it in Piccadilly on P8 anyway. You could use the Mauldeth Road/Levenshulme approach mentioned earlier, or you could use this approach should you wish.
• Again, remember your route boundaries... don't bother adding any trains that leave Manchester Oxford Road or Deansgate at 08:50 onwards heading away from Piccadilly, as a) the route doesn't go that far, and b) those services are IRRELEVANT!

Continued on Post 2

 

Continued...

• Now, you've finished adding AI between Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport/Manchester Airport, you now need to add AI going the other way. No scenario is complete without trains heading in the same direction as the player is. I mentioned earlier about busyness around Piccadilly; this is how you do it.
• Your eyes will automatically be drawn to the mainline traffic through Stockport, as it is the first station that appears from the top (after Edgeley Junction Nos. 1 & 2).
• Top tip for MAC scenarios: Do NOT forget about the Styal Line. The Styal Line has traffic as well, more so on the stretch from Manchester Airport to Mauldeth Road (highlighted in green), where you have extra services courtesy of First TransPennine Express (today's TransPennine Express) heading to destinations e.g. Cleethorpes, York or Scarborough.
• Manchester Airport's A's & B's: Manchester Airport's 4 platforms are split into A & B sections to allow trains to "stack". Northern's Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly services often do this. However, SP does not allow you to "stack" trains within the platform despite a) the length of the platform, and b) how short the trains that served Manchester Airport were at the time. My advice? Just spawn it in that platform, and disregard the whole A/B thing. Stacking cannot be done in SP, so don't get too bogged down if you see a service in Platform 2A and another service in Platform 2B. First come, first serve as they say.

• Route boundaries: See previous post for more detail.
• The route starts/ends (rather oddly) at Alderley Edge (underlined in light blue), one station south of (the more logical end point) Wilmslow (underlined in dark blue). However, not all services stop at Alderley Edge, most notably intercity services courtesy of Virgin Trains and Arriva Trains Wales (today's Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales respectively). This is something to bear in mind; luckily this route has portals! There is a portal called "Chelford DOWN" that has paths that skip Alderley Edge and stop at Wilmslow P1 & P3, hence allowing VT & ATW services to run properly within the scenario.
• How to think of the two branches: MAC has two branches; one via Styal and Heald Green, and the other via Stockport. Services with an H in them go via Stockport (think H for Handforth), whereas services with an A in them go via the Airport (think A for Airport). H = Handforth (via Stockport), A = Airport (via Styal + Heald Green).

• You'll notice that there is a service (1L06) in Platform 0 at Stockport just after another service (2K28) in Platform 1 leaves Stockport. Luckily, like with Manchester Piccadilly, all platforms (minus the bay platform 3A) are accessible at Stockport. However, I did something rather cheeky... I spawned 1L06 at Heaton Chapel to mimic a small delay to the service. I mean, it worked with zero issues, so that is something that you could do in regards to delays .
• Services ending at Wilmslow and not stopping at Alderley Edge: See above for more detail.
• Route boundaries: See previous post for more detail. DO NOT do the Buxton Line. If you want Buxton, go on Peak Forest .
• Remember K = Stockport (goes through Handforth) and A = Airport!
• Train allocations: See previous post for more detail.

One final tip from me: Remember to download the freight WTT as well to have a look if any freight trains run during your scenario. Accuracy is everything here!



WTT Links for Dec 2014:

Passenger: 2014-12 WTT CM | Network Rail Corporate Archive
Freight: 2014-12 WTT CZ | Network Rail Corporate Archive


I really hope you found all of that helpful. This took me a lot of time to do, so if you do have any questions about anything discussed in this insight, then post them below. If you want me to do this again in the future, then do let me know below too .

I've been TG08 as always, and I'll see you next time for another CC release announcement. Until then, it's goodbye from me .